EU caps mobile roaming rates

LUXEMBOURG: The European Union on Monday formally adopted rules slashing the cost of cross border mobile phone calls in the 27-nation bloc, paving the way for their application in the coming months.

EU ministers in charge of competitiveness issues rubberstamped the rules after they had been approved by telecoms ministers and the European Parliament.

The rules will then be officially published on Friday and take effect on Saturday, although it could be weeks or months before consumers can benefit because operators have to make new offers to clients.

The new rules will limit the price operators can charge EU subscribers making cross-border calls within the 27-nation bloc at 49 euro cents (66 US cents) a minute in the first year of application while receiving a call could cost no more than 24 cents.

The ceiling for roaming services would then drop again in the second year, falling to 46 and 22 cents and then 43 and 19 cents in the third year.

According to data from September provided by the European Parliament, the average retail roaming rate is 1.15 euros (1.53 dollars) per minute, five times the cost to operators for providing the service.

However, variations between member states can be huge with a four-minute call for a French customer travelling in Italy costing 4.72 euros while a four-minute call by a Cypriot in Belgium can set a user back 12.00 euros.

The industry argues that fierce competition has already driven down prices and has lobbied hard for the package to be watered down while at the same time consumers' associations have said the limits do not go far enough.